“Right. Okay then.” She’s standing across from me, her arms crossed, staring defiantly at the corner of the room. I’ve just turned her down and the only thought in my head is this is awkward.
It’s not that she isn’t pretty, because she is. Dark blond hair and tall, with angry eyes and a cruel smirk. The smirk is gone now. “Yeah, yeah, hetero. See you on the streets, and all that.” Then she’s gone.
Her words bring me back to the first time I met her. I had raced her, me in my Corvette, her in her famous black Mustang. The smoke died down, and it became clear that she had won. She stepped out of her car and laughed at me, loud and kingly, before giving me a smirk and barking out, “See you on the streets!”
At the beginning she had not been kind. Even after, when her affections became obvious, she still spit at my feet and twisted my arms behind my back. Maybe that was just her way.
I stand alone in the locker room when she leaves, the lights flickering uncertainly. I swallow the nervous beating in my throat and drive home.
Weeks pass. We still see each other in the hallways, on the streets. Her eyes get darker every day, her heart wilting on her sleeve. Rumor has it that she’s taken to booze. Rumor has it that she’s taken to a razor.
Rumor has it that she’s stopped racing.
It’s not that I want to race against her, even if I do. It’s that every day I see her midnight Mustang and my wrists pulse with the thrum of an engine. See you on the streets.
This pulse tells me to drive, and on one bleak 4 am, I do. I’m looking for a race, looking for a release. I guess I’m looking for her.
I find her black Mustang, but it’s cold and smoking and twisted all wrong. The front door is dented in and I look inside, calling 911. Her cheekbone is smashed into the f***ing steering wheel. Her hands are cradled in her lap, they are holding something: a bird, a heart. No, it’s her phone. I grasp for it with sweating palms, panting curses like a prayer. It blinks an unsent message. I read it as police arrive and flies start to pick at her eyes.
see you on the